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J. PETRIE, Jr.

WOOL WASHING MAUHINE.

No. 261,756. Patented July 25, 1882.

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J. PETRIE, Jr.

WOOL WASHING MAOHINE. No. 261,756. Patented J111'y'25, 1882.

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J. PETRIEQJr.

WOOL WASHING MACHINE.

Patented July 25, 1882.

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UNITED STATES PATENT UFFICE.

JOHN PETRIE, JR, OF ROOHDALE, COUNTY OF LANCASTER, ENGLAND.

WOOL-WASHING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 261,756, dated July 25, 1882. Application filed March 6, 1882. (No model.) Patented in England December 21,1881, No. 2,720.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, John PETRIE, Jr., a citizen of Great Britain, residing at Rochdale,

in the county of Lancaster, England, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompa- "nying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of my present invention is to simplify and accelerate the first step in the process of treating wool and other fibrous material for spinning and other purposesthat is, the washing or cleansing of such materialwhich is necessarily accomplished before itis subjected to the scouring process.

To accomplish these results my invention consists partly in the combination of a movable feeding-frame with a stationary frame or grid, both being located in the tank for the wool and cleansing-fluid, and devices or mechanism for reciprocating the movable framelongitudinally and vertically and returning to its starting-point, and partly in certain subsidiary 5 i 'as occas1on requires.

devices hereinafter particularly set forth.

The drawings which accompany this specification and illustrate my invention represent, in Figure 1,a sectional elevation, in Fig. 2 a plan, and in Fig. 3 a vertical cross-section, ofa machinefor washing and cleansing wool or other fibrous material. Fig. 4 in said drawings represents a portion of a longitudinal section.

Fig. 5 represents amodifica'tion of the invention.

Reference being bad to the above-named drawings, especially Figs. 1, 2, and 3 thereof,

it will be seen that A represents an upright of labor to be performed, the sides of this vat being shown at B B, its ends or heads at O G,

and its bottom at D, the latter beingsupported upon suitable feet, E E, &c., and the vat'being supplied with suitable inlet and discharge ports to enable it to be cleansed or emptied,

At the front end of the vat A, and at the upper part thereof, I locate an endless traveling feed-apron,,F, upon which the material to be cleansed is placed, and by which apron such material is fed into the vat. Within the vat, and near the feed-apron, I place a rotary fluted or grooved roll or tumbler, Gr, the office of which is to submerge in the steeping or cleansing liquid contained in the vat the material fed to the trough by the apron F, the level of the cleansingliquid being indicated by H.

Within the vat, and upon oppositesidesthereof, and at some distance from its sidesB B, I place upright housings or plates I I,which extend longitudinally throughout the vat parallel with the said sides B B, these housings being to support the horizontal barred grid or false bottom, which supports the material to be cleaned. This grid is shown at J as composed of a series of parallel bars, a a, &c.,which are secured at their front ends to the head 0 of the vat, While at their opposite ends such bars are secured to the top of a horizontal transverse beam, K, secured at its ends to opposite sides of the vat.

The movable grid or carrier frame for advancing the material along the stationary grid is shown at A as composed of a series of paralthe stationary grid.

In order to lift, advance, lower, and retract the bars b b, and in so doing cause them to seize and advance the wool or other material along the grid J, then drop below such material and return to their starting-point, I proceed as follows: At the rear end of the vat, and above the same, and'mounted in suitable curved standards or brackets, LL, erected upon or secured to the sides of such vat, I dispose a horizontal transverse shaft, M, provided with fast and loose pulleys N O,the former of which is bolted to a suitable driving-pulley, by which the shaft M is put in rotation. Upon one end of the shaft M, I secure a pinion, Q, which ongages and drives a spur-gear, B, secured to a horizontal shaft, S, arranged beneath or parallelto the shaft M, and mounted in bearings c 0, erected upon the sides of the vat below the standards L L, before named. Upon the shaft S, I form two cranks, T T, and to the wristpins of these cranks I pivot the enclsof twin connecting-rods U U, the opposite or front ends of these rods being in turn pivoted to opposite ends of a horizontal rod or bar, V, extending laterally across the lowerpart of the vat beneath the bars a of the stationary grid J. Rotations of the crank l shaft S, through the agency of the rods U U, effect reciprocating longitudinal movements of-the barred frame, and to effect the vertical motion of such frame I employ a horizontal shaft, X, extending laterally across the top of the vat in front of the shaft S, and aboutlevel therewith, and mounted in bearingsYY, erected upon the sides of the vat; and upon one end ofthis shaft X, I secure a spur-gear, Z, which engages a twin gear, B secured to the end of the shaft S opposite that carrying the gear R, before named, the said shalt S, by means of the gears Z and B putting the shaft in motion. Moreover, I secure to the shaft X two twin heart-cams, O O, the peripheries of which are embraced by anti-friction rollers D D, pivoted at opposite ends of longitudinal slots 0 0, formed in the rear ends of two connecting-rods, E E, disposed above V der to prevent lateral play. The connectingrods E E are pivoted attheir front ends to long rails or barsff, disposed longitudinally within the vat immediatelyoutside ot'the housings I I, while these rails or barsff in turn have pivoted to them at intervals the upper ends of a series of bell-crank levers, g g g h h h, arranged and operating in jaws upon each side of the vat, the angles of the levers h h h g g 9 being pivoted, as shown at i, to the side plates or walls, B B, of the vat, while the lower ends or noses of said bell-crank levers are pivoted to opposite ends of slotted ears h h,.the slots Z l of these ears straddling anti-friction roll- .ers turning on opposite ends of rods m m, ex-

tending horizontally across the vat beneath the grid J, and beneath the bars I) b in manner similar to the rods or bars V, before named.

The rotations of the crank -shaft S effect, through the agency of the rods U U, longitudinal reciprocations of thebarred frame A within the barred grid J, while at the same time the shaft S, by means of thegears B and Z, puts the shaft X in rotation, while such shaft X, by means of the cams G O and rods E E, will impart longitudinal reciprocating motions to the bars or railsff, to which the upper end s of the levers g h are pivoted, and these recip rocating movements of said bars or rails effect rocking movements of said levers g h, the result of which is that the lower arms of these levers alternately raise and depress the barred frame A the parts being so timed oradjusted that as the barred frame moves forward toward the squeezing-rollers (which are shown at h and 0, respectively, arranged at the rear or outlet end of the vat) it rises and raises above the stationary grid J the mass of fibrous material upon the latter, thereby feeding such mass, step by step, toward said rollers, while as the barred frame retreats to its starting-point at the front end of the vat to act anew upon the mass of material it lowers beneath the surface of the grid.

The transverse rod or bar V, before mentioned, takes the place of one of the rods or moves, are substantially the same in construction as the other slotted cars, is, in which the ends of rods m are guided. The rod V is distinguished from the others by a different letter, because it is the oneto which the connectin g rods U are directly attached, and through which motion is communicated to the movable frame 1), whereas the other rods, m, merely act as supports and guides for said frames. All of said rods are attached firmly to said frame and provided with rollers, which turn in said slotted guides. The slotted cars W do not move with rods or bars mV, but merely guide them. Said'ears being hung from bellcrank levers g, the action of said levers lifts said ears, and with them the bars at V and the movable frame. Thus the movable frame receives longitudinal motion from the connecting-rod U and vertical motion from barf and bell-crank levers g. The two sets of devices combined give the compound motion desired.

To raise the mass of material, after cleansing, to the level of the squeeze-rolls and deliver it to the latter, I employ a device of any suitable construction, that herein shown consisting of a series of inclined bars, 1) p, &c., arranged parallel across the vat and extending longitudinally of the latter, thesebars being armed upon their upper surface with card-clothin g or other rough or bristling covering, which shall seize and hold the mass of material as itis fed forward, and prevents its slipping back to the vat. The conjoint action of the grid and barred frame will tend to loosen and cleanse the material more or less effectually; but to aid in this operation I prefer to subject it to the pounding action of a series of plungers, which are shown in the drawings at F as four in number, arranged centrally over the vat, and each suspended by a rope or chain, g, from the lower end of a link, i, which link in turn is pivoted at its upper end to the wrist-pin of a crank, G, which is secured to one end of a horizontal shaft,t, mounted in bearinguv, one of which, a, is erected upon the upper edge of the right side, B, of the vat and the other, e, flipon a horizontal beam, H, erected centrally and longitudinally over the vat upon columns to 20, secured to its sides by means of cross-beams m m, the latter being at the outlet end of the vat.

To impart the requisite slow rotary motions of the series it t t t of shafts, Iemploy a long horizontal shaft, 1', which is mountedin bearings y y, &c., a horizontal rail, 2, erected from the right side, B, of the vat, and at its front engages and is driven by a beveled pinion, b, secured to the shaft M, before alluded to, between the pinion Q and pulley 0, carried by bars m, and the slotted ears W, in which itend has secured to it a bevel-gear, a, which such shat't. Furthermore, I secure the shaft 1, at intervals, bevel -pinions c c, 870., each of which engages and drives a beveled gear, 61, secured to one end of each crank-shaft t. As the shaft M rotates duringthe operation of the machine it puts (by means of thepinion b and gear a) the shaft I in slow rotation, and the rotations of this shaft 1 effect, through themstrumentality of the pinion 0, gears d, and cranks G, alternate rises and falls of the plungers F, which in their descent drop upon the mass of material to be cleansed, and by their pounding action tend to facilitate the operation of loosening anddetaching any foreign matter contained in such material.

To avoid entangling or felting of the wool or other material by the plungers during such time as the latter may rest upon the material while it is being fed forward by the movable frame, the length of each chain q is to be such that as the plunger drops upon the chain it shall slacken and permit the plunger to move forward by and with the material.

As it is intended to immerse the plungersto agreater or less extentin the liquid in thetank as they lower upon the material to be cleansed, they are or may be constructed in the form of boxes, upon the tight bottom of which weights may be placed, if necessary, and it may be found in practice advantageous to form aflange or ledge about the edge of the bottom, as shown at e in the drawings, in order to provide an air-space or inclosure, f, which, upon 'descent of the plunger or heater into the liquid, inclose and carry into such liquid a certain amount of air, a portion of which, as itbecomes compressed, is forced through the wool or other material and aids in removing the impurities contained in the same.

In Fig. 5 of the accompanying drawings 1 have shown a modification of my machine, said figure being a side elevation ofa portion of the machine. In this figure the tank is shown at A, one of its sides at B, one end orhead at 0, its bottom at D, and its supporting-feet at E E, &c., thebarred grid at-J, the movable barred frame at A, the squeeze-rolls at a 0, these parts being arranged and operating as de' scribed in the original machine. These modifications relate to meansfor lifting the cleansed material to the level of the squeeze-rolls as a substitute for the inclined bars p, first described, and consists in raising the rear ends of the barred grid and of the barred frame operating therewith to such level. I effect this by increasing the pitch or slope of the said grid or frame and,bringing their outer ends to a level with the squeeze-rolls, as shown in Fig. 5, by this means lifting thematerial by a gradual inclined plane and delivering it direct to such rolls. Moreover, I employ in this modification a water-conduit, J, arranged centrally and longitudinally above the tank and connected with a suitable Water-supply. In connection with this conduit I employ hollow ing action of the plunger, is an effective allyin I do not,however,re-'

cleansing the material. strict myself to thecombination ot' the plunger and showering-pipes, as the latter may be used independent of the former. Nor do I restrict myself to the precise construction or location of the showering-pipes, as they may be in the form of simple perforated pipes placed in. the

lower part of the vat below the barred grid, and through which water under heavy pressure may be forced upward; or these perforated pipes may be connected with an air-pump and jets of air forced upward through the mass of material to be cleansed, and thereby aid in opening and loosening such mass.

I sometimes use a circular vat, which may be arranged to rotate. This construction and the mechanism therefor will form part of the subject-matter of another application.

1 claim 1. In machinery for cleansing wool or other fibrous material, thevat or tank provided with barred grid J and movable frame A the bars I) of said frame being disposed between the bars aof said grid and arranged parallel therewith, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with plungers F, suspended from link 1", pivoted at its upper end to the wrist-pin of crank G, which is secured to a shaft, t, of the mechanism for operating said shaft, substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with a tank and stationary grid, a wool-feeding frame reciprocated longitudinally and vertically, as described, and the barf, bell-crank levers g, the slotted ears suspended therefrom, the bars or rods m, the connecting-rod U, and the devices for operating said rod U and barf, substantially as set forth. i

4. In machinery for cleansing Wool or other fibrous material, the combination of the vator tank for containing the material to be cleansed and the liquid to efl'ect such cleansing, the barred grid J, and transferring-frame AZwith an inclined frame at one end of said vat, having its upper surface roughened and adapted to receive and transfer the wool from said frame A to the squeezing-rolls, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN PETRIE, JR.

Witnesses:

J OHN WODESWOR'IH,

SOME, Rochdale. WM. Rossosn,

His Clerk. 

